Young: Entrepreneurs 35 years or younger across all industries (as at 22 June 2018)

Master Entrepreneur: for leaders of well-established businesses which have a significant commitment to entrepreneurship

EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards director Darren White says that this year’ group is “wonderfully diverse” but there’s also something “distinctly New Zealand” about them.

“We continue to be in awe of these entrepreneurs from all corners of the country who have demonstrated enormous courage, determination and skill to establish and grow their businesses, we are delighted they have taken this opportunity to join us in celebrating Kiwi entrepreneurship. Each year it is an honour to acknowledge their achievements and recognise the dreamers that do.”

Christchurch finalist Dan Fowlie from IT firm Trineo says he and co-founder Abhinav Keswani founded the company in a broom cupboard.

The company was soon building bespoke customisations of CRM software Salesforce, and its subsidiary cloud software platform, Heroku.

“A part of me feels as though I am representing Christchurch. This city has been an amazing incubator for Trineo and hundreds of others in the digital industries, so it’s always nice to get recognition for the city, no matter what happens from here,” Fowlie says.

“It’s a real honour to be in the running for Entrepreneur of the Year, especially given the calibre of the other finalists. Now the hard work starts in trying to impress the judges.”